GLENDALE, Ariz. — The motion was unmistakable with the right foot pausing above the ground just before delivery.
Clayton Kershaw was in Dodgers’ camp on Tuesday, going through his throwing program on one of the fields at Camelback Ranch. The free-agent left-hander has agreed to a contract with the Dodgers that will become official Wednesday, the first official day of workouts for pitchers and catchers.
It is unclear when the 36-year-old future Hall of Famer will be ready to pitch in games. He underwent surgery on his left foot and knee following the end of the 2024 World Series and will be placed on the 60-day injured list as soon as his signing becomes official, an indication he is not likely to be ready to start his season with the Dodgers until late May at the earliest.
Kershaw underwent surgery on his shoulder following the 2023 season and did not pitch for the Dodgers until July last season. He made just seven starts before a chronic problem with bone spurs and ligament damage in the big toe on his left foot became too painful. He made his last start at the end of August and was not on the Dodgers’ postseason roster for any round.
Kershaw’s contract included an option for 2025 but he opted out instead, technically becoming a free agent this past winter. Both he and the Dodgers, however, made it clear he would be rejoining the team. At the parade celebrating the Dodgers’ World Series win, he proclaimed himself a “Dodger for life!”
Even as he battled through injuries the past two seasons and lost velocity on his fastball, Kershaw remains an elite-level pitcher when healthy. In 31 starts over the past two years, he is 15-7 with a 2.84 ERA.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner has 212 career wins – second to Don Sutton’s 233 in franchise history – and is just 32 strikeouts short of becoming only the 20th pitcher in MLB history with 3,000 career strikeouts.
KEEPING IT 120
The MLB record for wins in a season is 116, shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs (in a 152-game season) and the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Appearing on a podcast this winter, infielder Miguel Rojas let the excitement of the Dodgers’ aggressive offseason get to him and predicted the 2025 Dodgers could win as many as 120. He didn’t back off from that in camp on Tuesday.
“If I wasn’t thinking that was a possibility, I wouldn’t have said it,” Rojas said. “You’ve seen teams that have won 116 before, right? It’s just four more games.
“I know how hard it is to win a baseball game in the big leagues. But I totally understand that we’re capable of winning baseball games. That’s what the Dodgers do. We win series. We win baseball games. At the end of the year, we’re going to see what our record is. But what I can tell you is, the mentality of everyone in this room is to win every single day. So if we can win 162, we’re going to try to win 162. I know that’s impossible and it’s really hard to win 120 games. But at the end of the day, that’s the expectations that we have.”
Neither the 1906 Cubs nor the 2001 Mariners won the World Series. The Dodgers won a franchise-record 111 games in 2022 but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
“I couldn’t care less about that honestly,” third baseman Max Muncy said about the wins record. “As long as we’re in October, that’s more what I care about. It doesn’t matter how we do it, doesn’t matter how many wins we have, doesn’t matter in what place we’re in. As long as we’re in October, that’s the goal. And then anything can happen from there.”
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